Disciplined Dosing

[Popster]

Actually...we were talking about tapering, not all sorts of other things

[Popster]

Now why didn't I think of that....good one kristof.......

I would exchange the scotch for some brandy tho....LOL

[barq2]

granted, popster.  however, if one does not have the strength or support to take a low dose when prescribed, those machines can help with "will power."

The really interesting thing about will power is that it gets depleted. Psychologists call it ego depletion. It is a rather counter-intuitive idea because a lot of the time the metaphor of exercising the brain like a muscle holds true. However, there is a lot of evidence we have a finite amount of will power, so exerting it once makes it harder to do the same a little while later on. It might explain why things like weight-loss diets are so hard to maintain. It also transfers between things, so you might use up some will power resisting a slice of cake, making it harder to resist medication later.

Fortunately we aren't helpless. There is a small body of evidence starting to indicate that inducing a positive mood helps people recover from ego depletion more rapidly. Studies have tended to use things like surprise gifts, which unfortunately are hard to organise for yourself! However, it seems that watching a comedy on TV works. I would expect the benefits might wear off over time, so it is possible you'd need to keep finding novel ways to lift your mood. I don't think it has been tested yet, but I suspect random acts of kindness might be quite effective in ego restoration. For people who like exercise, that would very possibly assist ego restoration. (Not sure what the effects would be for someone who finds exercise a real chore - potentially they might experience more ego depletion making themselves go to the gym, or alternatively they might benefit from the endorphins. There's an interesting experiment for some future psychologist's PhD!)

Obviously I'm not suggesting we all eat cake and abandon exercise ;-) But the concept of ego restoration might help some of us - find things that lift your mood and in theory you should have greater will power. For others, it may be about prioritising where they really need to expend that precious will power the most.